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I'm currently beginning to collect an Astra Militarum player and I'm looking for some advice. I can field 2 squads of vets with dedicated transports as chimeras. I also have a standard Russ/vanquisher and a wyvern, as well as two min squads of scions one of them as scion command squad (gets 4 special weapons) a tech priest and I also have creed and an additional command squad. Any advice on how to kit them for maximum effectiveness would be greatly appreciated.

Browse the forums. There are several posts a week about AM unit composition and list structure.

My advice. Pick a theme and play it. Anywhere from infantry heavy to nothing but russes. Competitive or I could care less. If you don't pick, you end up with a mountain of guard infantry and tanks. They have lots of builds, and do well with many types of allies.

One thing that might be worth looking into, and this is somewhat of a random aside, is FW rules for themed guard. The various named Guard armies (Deathkorps, D99, Elysians) can be very fun, help you pick a theme, and GENERALLY aren't op / considered OP (doubly so if you don't try and make a stupidly strong list, but try and make a fun one).

Other than that, as was said, pick a theme that appeals to you and go with it. Guard can be all over the bloody place and do it all fairly effectively, though they're certainly not top-of-the-pile right now.

Fellow guard player here,

It's easy to get bogged down building lot of squads and buying tons of kits for IG, so my best advice is to do as much forum reading as you can and purchase wisely. Lots of people have varying opinions on what works and what does not but in general there are a few long-running strategies for playing guard.

It looks like you are leaning towards playing with mechanized vets instead of large blobs of infantry, which is a very common and some would say competitive way to go. My opinions on what is worth taking in the codex is something like this:

HQ:

CCS's Yes! Very good, cheap source of orders and adviser buffs. Keeping them cheap/safe is the priority.
Pask Tank Commander: Punisher, with las cannon and MM's backed by an executioner escort with plasma sponsons is pretty reliable damage output, just once again do not leave them unsupported.

I would not take named characters in CCS, as they do not give you as much bang for your buck as their cost implies.

Elites:

Scions: They sort of fit the same role as veterans but are better if you have the means to deep strike them or air drop them. They also have access to their own orders but I tend to find them a bit expensive. I would use them if you have a reliable means of getting them to their target fast. Either Valkyrie or Taurox.

Bullgryns: Most people don't like using these, but I have fund them useful as a way of protecting my CCS and/or artillery.

Troops:

Arguably the best section of the codex, lots of choices and variety.
Platoons are great for foot-slogging hordes with lots of heavy weapons, special weapons and cheap disposable bodies. The downside is just how easily countered they are by anti infantry weapons. They should always, always be buffed by priests or psychers, and the PCS that comes with them is a good way to get a 4 flamer unit to drop in your opponent's backfield. I must warn you, going with large blobs may seem fun but when you look at the cost, time spent painting/assembling and then playing the game its a huge pain in the neck. I was foolish enough to do this and after painting 70+ almost identical guardsmen to what I consider a good standard I was just about ready to quit the hobby...

Veterans: Excellent way to fetch objectives, go tank hunting and advance up the board with special weapons.

Fast Attack:

I only use the fliers, Valk for transport and general air support, Vendetta for vehicle hunting/AA.

Banewolf and the other flamer tanks could be very effective against hordes as well.

Sentinels are good weapons platforms and pretty fast. In addition, if you give them the relay you can deep strike your scions in the backfield. They are very fragile though.

Heavy Support:

Leman Russes are great. Battle tank for shelling from a distance, Demolisher with MM sponsons for assaulting. I would stay away from vanquishers and exterminators.

Wyvern: Yes, yes, yes! Arguably our best unit for the cost. Get at least two!

Manticore/deathsrike: Some people swear by these, but to me they are high risk/high reward. If they hit they can decimate the opponent, if they miss you are wasting big points. For the price of one you can have 2 wyverns and points to spare so I say go for wyverns!

This is my opinion fro playing, researching guard for a while now. Hope this helps!

You'll need a lot fo bodies for blobs, conscripts and bubblewrapping (which is the same as either blobs or conscripts). For mechvets you'll need lot of special weapons (plama and melta), for blobs, you'll need heavy weapons (try to magnetise them so you can switch between lascannon, auto cannon and heavy bolter (you won't be using mortar and missile launcher anyway)) and maybe force axes. You'll need some priests to keep your guys from running.

For Leman Russes Pask is awesome, but you'll need two kits of LR Demolisher for his squadron.

Wyverns are awesome. Spam as many of it as you can/don't feel dirty for. It's really good at what it does and cheap pointswise (costs as much as an LR while costs third the points, so it's expensive $ wise). GW has a tendency to nerf the current cheeseboat of a codex in the next codex (just ask a necron player about the last codex), so except that.

You'll also need psykers, you can buy a box of wyrdvane and use them as primaris. CCS advisors are nice too (at least the astropath, MoO can be fun but unreliable, OoF gives you re-rolls on reserves, which is nice).

You'll need to get carapace vets from somewhere (I use old Kasrkins for them).

You can buy the little 5 man Guardsmen boxes to build up an Infantry/Conscript Blob for cheaper. The 5man boxes are considerably cheaper in terms of dollars per model for a Guardsman with Lasgun than the 10man boxes, but obviously you don't get any special weapons/equipment or a way to make the Sergeants for an Infantry Squad (but that's not an issue if you're making Conscripts).

Welcome to Dakka!

If you're new to Guard, then here is an article I wrote that you might find useful, a unit-by-unit run through the codex with the ways to get the most from each. Hopefully, it will answer a lot of questions you have, and if you have any questions afterwards, then do ask! Might want to grab a cup of tea first, though, it is quite lengthy:
http://antorsfinest.blogspot.co.uk/p/imperial-guard.html

For the Russes i have to defend the Exterminator it is a good way to force jinking saves on things.
Also if you like heavy armor themed armies try the Armored Battlegroup list from Forgeworld. A very elite army that plays very different. You can play a combined arms army with only LRs. And their Hydras ignore Jink...